A former regional journalist has celebrated his success in setting up a news website aimed at British and Irish expatriates in Kenya.

Andrew Watt, who was group digital editor for the central and east region of Local World, launched Brits in Kenya, which aims to combat a lack of coverage the community receives in the African country.

The site which has recently been getting around 2,000 daily visitors and has also recently published op-eds by the British High Commissioner and the Irish Charge d’Affairs with website traffic doubling year-on-year.

Andrew is currently UK-based, but travels to Kenya frequently with his family.

He told HTFP: “The Brits in Kenya website came about during a trip to East Africa. My wife in Kenyan and so we visit the country regularly, and being a journalist I obviously took an interest in the local press.

“What became clear was there were many stories involving the British and Irish expat communities which either weren’t reported or not covered in any depth and I thought setting up the site would fill this gap in the market while also helping me to learn more about my wife’s home country.

“Initially, I thought I would be lucky to find a story per day, but now I post a minimum of 4 stories a day during the week and have to reject some stories due to a lack of time. The reaction has been phenomenal, with a lot of interest and support from the British and Irish expat communities, charities, businesses, diplomats and other organisations operating in the country.

“The site is centred on the community and I have also launched Facebook, Telegram and Viber groups to compliment the main site. Before launching the site, I had no idea how many British and Irish nationals were working, living and volunteering in the country and it has been fascinating finding out and sharing their stories.”

The site covers stories which Andrew says “wouldn’t be reported anywhere else”, such as the British Army, who have a training base in the country, supporting the local community by renovating schools and orphanages.

The site currently pays for itself from Google adverts, but Andrew has been contacted by companies wanting to advertise on the site and is currently looking into the legalities of facilitating this.

He added: “The success of the site has in my opinion been down to offering news content to a specific demographic which was previously not catered for by the media.

“It was only set up as a hobby, but there is so much content that it is continuing to grow and take up more time.”